#guess i needed a very long loading screen time to boot up the good ol college try

[ramblinseahorsey]

*Throws glass on the ground*

GUESS WHO FINALLY DEFEATED THAT [[CLOWN AROUND TOWN!]]

[girl4music]

My review of the XBOX Series X

So I’ve had nearly a full week with the XBOX Series X and here is my honest opinion on my experience with it and this is my initial review of it. I’m not gonna talk about the technology or go into anything about the console’s hardware too deeply. I will talk about the features and benefits it offers. Going into some things that work and don’t work as well as promised by Microsoft and XBOX. Finally, I will talk about all the bugs and issues that I experienced and found most annoying. Most of which have already been identified and reported. 

First up, be aware that I am coming from an XBOX 360 as my last XBOX console experience so I may say stuff that applies to the XBOX One as well.

1. BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY AND AUTO HDR: Microsoft promised that the XBOX Series X and S would work right out of the box with 1000’s of gaming titles across 4 generations. This promise holds up… However, they do not run anywhere half as well as they also promised they would. They do run better than their native platform, that is true. But it’s not a groundbreaking difference. And AUTO HDR doesn’t really work with most games that never had it to begin with. It makes the colours and textures look really odd and you don’t get that nostalgic feeling of playing an old legacy title because of the “updates”. Which is something I was very much looking forward to. It’s pick your poison I guess. You can either have a legacy game running better and looking greater on a platform that can take the graphical fidelity and framerate boosts, or have a full reunion with your beloved legacy games from your childhood. You can turn AUTO HDR off via the main console settings, but this still doesn’t really give you the latter. Not in my personal opinion anyway. It’s not disappointing as it’s not something I really expected. I just would have liked to have it. Nostalgia >>> Shiny any day.

2. QUICK RESUME AND LOADING TIMES: The XBOX Series X (can’t speak for the S) has significantly improved on speed thanks to the custom lightning fast and functional SSD. So much so that you can now travel between multiple games fully loaded up on the SSD within the time of a few seconds. However, quick resume is not only useful to be able to play between 3 or 4 games (more according to YouTube influencers who have tried and tested this out far more than me) in one sitting. You can also effectively use it to save your game. Or rather… Replace save states IN a game. What quick resume allows you to do is keep your game saved at ANY point, and completely SHUT the console down and UNPLUG it for several days (or longer, again, never tested it that far) and then PLUG it in and switch it ON again, and come back to exactly where you left off in the game. And I do mean EXACTLY WHERE YOU LEFT OFF!

For example; you could be in an all-important boss fight in ‘Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’ and be so frustrated with not being able to beat this boss after trying many times. You could indeed just pause the game, come out to the dashboard, turn the console off and walk away from it all…. And when you came back to have another go at it, you would not have to restart the boss fight and just carry on with where you left off in chopping down their health. I did this several times because I suck at boss fights… And every time, this worked and it was the strategy that got me through them all. So a little cool off time is more than affordable with the XBOX Series X. And if you hate boss fights, suddenly you won’t hate boss fights as much anymore if you do the same. It makes a world of a difference to your experience. Believe me, quick resume is a literal life-saver.

To add to that, you also benefit from much quicker load times both with booting up the games and in-game fast-travelling or level-entering. Instead of 5 minutes waiting for a game to boot up into the main campaign or wherever,… It will take at most up to 50 seconds for the most power-taxing of games. 'Grand Theft Auto 5' for instance, known for it’s notoriously long boot into story or online mode… Now only takes 10 seconds from the company title advertisements to get into the area of the game you want to play. It is so fast that you do not have the time to read the tips and tricks dialogue that takes up the screen during the initial loading. It’s honestly a quality of life you never even knew you needed or was missing until you had it.

3. BUGS AND ISSUES: Being that I bought the XBOX Series X at Launch (November 10th), I very much expected it to come with a plethora of bugs and issues to discover and be witness to as a consumer and user of newly developed and released hardware and software. And these bugs and issues have already been identified and reported to Microsoft and the respective console and game developers. Bugs where you cannot play games that offer 4K at 120 hertz (4K/120fps) without visual and audial distortions or even without turning the game off altogether. I particularly had trouble with this in trying to play ‘Rise Of The Tomb Raider' 20 Year Celebration edition. Once I downloaded it from the XBOX Store fully, (which took a LONG FUCKING TIME, we’ll get on to that in a bit), I immediately tried to play it and because my display settings were set at 4K/120 because I have a TV that supports that setting, it was having all sorts of problems in booting up. There was all this distortion happening on screen both visually and audially that I thought my ultra high speed HDMI cable that came with the console was broken or faulty. I also remember specifically that it kept turning my Game Mode on and off rapidly and I didn’t know how to stop it avoiding a full reset of the console. This game was the worst for it but it also happened in other games I tried to play too. Including those I had as physical disks.

Speaking of… I did not encounter the “black/blank screen of death” issue other next-gen XBOX consumers and users did where you would enter a game disk and be met with a black or blank screen. BUT I did have trouble with downloading the “updates” for the games I had bought physically. I expected the games I downloaded digitally to take a long time to download fully, but I figured that it would be much quicker for the “updates” for physical games. This was not the case, and for some games, it actually took LONGER. I don’t know why this happens or if it can even be fixed in a firmware update, but it has put me off buying games physically for it, which is certainly not a good thing for store game retailers. And I’m someone who actually cares about that and would want to help them out as much as possible since they are a dying breed. But if it takes longer to download physical games than to download digital games, I’m not sure I can hold up that promise. The time it takes to download is a major frustration for me. I’ll be leaving my console on for long periods of time doing nothing but downloading that I otherwise wouldn’t. And I’ve got to say right now that I am glad I do not have an OLED TV where this would be much more of a problem due to burn-in risks. I would highly suggest anyone who is buying a new TV for their XBOX Series X or S with all the bells and whistles to not buy an OLED for this reason. Leaving an OLED TV on with a display picture that never moves for hours at a time would severely decrease it’s life and usage capacity. I recommend a Samsung QLED TV instead. That’s what I’ve got. I bought their Q95T 55inch 4K TV for gaming alone and it has not disappointed in the slightest. But I won’t go into why it’s the better TV to buy for next-gen gaming since this is not a TV review. You can look that up for yourselves at your leisure.

Another issue the XBOX Series X has is with its sharing image snapshots and video clips feature. The new controller for the console has a dedicated share button and that works really well. I’ve had no problems with it capturing the content that I want to share. But sharing to social media and to XBOX Live itself is the issue. And this happens with video clips more so than image snapshots. For some reason, when I go to share a video clip to Twitter, the load bar moves forward partly but then it immediately stops and gives me a black/blank screen. And sure enough, when I go to check my Twitter on my phone, it has not posted the video clip. And trying to share it to XBOX Live first and then share it to Twitter from my phone via the XBOX app doesn’t work either. The same issue applies here too. Black/blank screen when trying to share it to XBOX Live. Snapshot images also has this issue but every once in awhile it will allow you to share to both XBOX Live and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch ect…) whereas it will not allow you to share video clips at all. This is an issue Microsoft are aware of and are apparently fixing in a November firmware update at the end of the month. To what degree they fix it though is the real question because this feature is buggy as hell. So much for promoting and hyping up that dedicated share button on the controller, eh Phil Spencer and Co?

Well, that’s it. That’s been my experience with the XBOX Series X so far. Of course the pros of quick resume and loading times cut in half far outweigh the cons of faulty 4K resolution at 120 hertz gameplay and buggy sharing content features. I say do not let that put you off buying this fantastic piece of hardware because those bugs and issues can be fixed easily. The extremely long downloading for digital and physical games might not though and you might want to reconsider buying a next-gen XBOX console if you have an OLED TV. Or if you have the console already but not the TV to get the most advantages out of the console, consider buying a Samsung QLED instead. Thank you.

[tumblunni]

Okay the BIG TODAY THING

It seems i might possibly be gone for six months

I've been talking with my support worker about taking a course at this place thats uhh apparantly gonna help me get better with the depressions and stuff. And we had a meeting to go look around the place and make introductions and stuff but i had NO IDEA it would be all such short notice! I might have to move in IN TWO DAYS FROM NOW, what the fuck!!! And like if its not that its gonna be at the end of the week or next tuesday at the latest. Im so fuckin unprepared and im really freakin out!!

..uhh...how to describe it..well i guess its literally a mental asylum? But it's absolutely NOTHING like the horror movie stereotype! Its not a hospital with cages or locked rooms, its just like a big comfy cute shared house. Like a bunch of completely normal small apartment rooms but they just happen to be all connected to a shared kitchen and stuff and have on site nurses and a big schedule of therapy sessions and group activities like pottery class or bowling. You have the freedom to come and go as you please if you're on "voluntarily admitted" status (that's me!) and even if you're on what they call "sectioned" its still not scary loss of all your freedom. The highest level of sectioning is just like "requires an escort"? You're still allowed to go outside but you have a higher level of supervision from your key worker because you could potentially be a danger to yourself. But that's very rare and most people are only on maximum sectioning for a few weeks at the start of their treatment, if they've come straight from a situation of self harm or other concern factors. Most of the "sectioned" patients just have a time limit on how long they can spend on unsupervised outside activity. It's a pretty generous 8 hours apparantly!

So yeah i was getting worried about nothing, thinking i was gonna be in big scary solitary confinement and locked inside a tiny broom closet or jabbed with brain lazers. It honestly just seems like a summer camp resort for adults! And everyone there seems very nice, and im excited for being able to learn life skills like cooking and potential steps towards getting educational qualifications someday. And to have the help of a more specialist support worker who can assist me with even the smallest little problems. Like this nice lady Tazmin (who might be the one i get?) was saying how they've had other people with social anxiety before, and how we could plan "gradual exposure" to all the things that scare me. Like she said she'd be able to come with me and we'd take the bus and them get off at the next stop. That'd honestly be really helpful to help me get over being scared of the crowded spaces on buses, but i'd never be able to do it normally cos i'd be too embarassed taking such a short bus ride. Plus well itd be a waste of money,but if i'm a patient here i would get a free bus pass so it wouldnt be a problem.

Oh and the area seems really nice! Its so different from my stupid house right now in a crowded neighbourhood with NOTHING but houses everywhere for a mile! Its seriously almost a mile's walk to the ONE SINGULAR SHOP IN THE AREA and they close on sundays and dont sell vegetarian food. :( This area around the shared house thingie is a really nice bustling shops place but not super shops? Like i mean its a lovely village that has all the small shops you need, not a huge skyscrapers busy tourist place. The perfect balance of conveinient and not scary! They have a library and a park so close to the place, and a bazillion charity shops holy FUCK im so excited to have charity shops again!! I think you call them thrift shops in america? But i just always really love bargain hunting and finding nice surprises in places like that! And there's places to do pottery classes and group trips sometimes to do stuff like cinema or bowling or just having your big ol scary therapy meeting at the nice coffee shop at the end ot the road.

So yeah dont worry about me guys, im not trapped in some horribke hell place! I'm sure it'll be as non threatening as an Intensive Therapy Boot Camp can possibly be, im just still nervous as hell cos well yeah I Have Social Anxiety And That Is Why I Am Here In The First Place. Im scared im not gonna be able to succeed at this. I really wanna leave at the end and be all mentally buffed up and ready to make all these nice nurses proud!

Oh and man Richard has been so nice about this?? He was super freaked out and apologetic about it being Scary Short Notice, we had a bit of a dumb misunderstanding where he clearly told me and i clearly said yes but i somehow completely misunderstood what he was saying and thought i was saying yes to something else??? So im so fuckin glad that at the very end of the appointment right when i was gonna get out the car he was like 'oh so remember your suitcase on wednesday' and i was like WHAT. Like man can you imagine how much more terrifying it would have been if i just turned up on wednesday with no supplies but the shirt off my back and was like 'wtf where is he driving me OH GOD NO'. Bunni why you so bad at the good of talking!! Seriously richard thanks so much for clearing it up but also AAAAA i accidentally agreed to the shortest of short notice and i dont know if he's gonna be able to reschedule it!!!

And man i was there crying in his car about how i dont wanna be in hospital on my birthday, and babbling all the different things i had planned fot the next few months. And GOD DAMN MY DUMB BRAIN i ended up blurting out that i had a preorder of a videogame that i was gonna miss. And i straight up started explaining pokemon to my mental health counseller who is also a dj, how damn fake does my life sound?? Anyway he said that i'll still be able to keep him as my support worker when i get back out of this, and we'll still have weekly or monthly meetings while i'm in there. And he keeps reminding me that i'm free to leave if i feel uncomfortable, but i know that i'd feel like a failure if i did! So he legit fuckin goddamn said (THIS SOUNDS SO FAKE) that i could take a day off when the dumb game comes out, and he'd play co op pokemon with me. HOLY GEEZUS RICHARD YOU'RE LIKE THAT HOLY GRAIL OF THERAPISTS! And man he even said it wasnt embarassing for me to sleep with a teddy bear and he'd help me pack it up safe and ensure nobody saw it while we move my bags into my new room. And then i was like "uhh but also the teddy bear is a giant lifesize embarassing pokemon merchandise" and he was like "okay so we need DOUBLE STEALTH". Apparantly the new sequel to Pokemon Go is Pokemon Sneak! God he helped calm me down from this freakout so much, he's always great with lil jokes and motivational sayings. And i talked about how i first started being interested in Obscure Deep Sea Slug Facts because pokemon has some characters based on weird real life animals, and like its Very Educational Honest, And Has Appeal For Both Kids And Adults. How on earth did this turn into Motovational Pokemon Blabber Time??? Anyway thats how i ended up texting a professional psychologist pictures of gastrodon at 7.30pm.

SO

Yeah

In summary

I'm mostly just worried cos this is short notice! And cos its such a big commitment that being short notice is Super Bad. I need to friggin clean the whole house top to bottom in two days, so it doesnt get all gross and attract flies while im gone. And i need to toss out like a hundred bucks worth of frozen food that aint gonna keep for 6 months. And i need to wash all my damn clothes. And i dont even have a suitcase and this is at a terrible time where i dont get paid for a week so i cant buy a new one right now!! And damn i DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT TO TAKE AAAAAA

And the BIGGEST PROBLEM

Is that i wont be able to talk to you guys for half a year!!!

They dont have wifi and im not allowed to take my computer anyway. They only allow laptops and all i have is a desktop and AAAA its too short notice to save up enough to get a laptop mannnnn! Fuck man i didnt even think about that, i need to go pause my broadband internet for six months, do they even allow you to come back after that long?? And man part of me wants to ask to borrow money from friends to get a laptop but i know this time i cant promise to pay you back within the month cos AAAGH ALL OF THIS SHIT!! Like damn man if anyone is willing to let me pay back a hundred and fifty quid in 6 months??not bloody likely!! And man the only place to get a laptop in TWO GODDAMN DAYS is stupid fuckin Amazon :( but god im gonna go stir crazy being unable to do art or gamemaking or friggin anything to occupy myself!! I can bring my 3ds but i barely have any games for it and ive already finished all of them except harvest moon a new beginning which i quit cos it was bad. And the screen is broken anyway gahhh. SO MANY THINGS I NEED MONEY FOR IN SUCH A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME THAT IS NON CONDUCTIVE TO MONEYING

So anyway GAHH i wont have an internet connection in the house, and i'll be able to walk down the hill and use the library computers hopefully at least weekly, but they forbid all social media sites. So like can i get the emails of everyone who wants to keep in contact? Man i dont know how im gonna manage this AAAAA!!! i will send u loads of pics of scenic asylum beauty and dumb updates on my stupid life of probably very little progress.

And AGGGHHH i dont even have the time to plan a blog queue or anything fuck man geez aaaaaaaa

I NEED TO BUY A NEW PAIR OF TROUSERS WITHOUT HOLES IN THE KNEES man i cant live on singular pantage in a shared house

[dipulb3]

2021 Cadillac Escalade first drive review: American swagger

New Post has been published on https://appradab.com/2021-cadillac-escalade-first-drive-review-american-swagger/

2021 Cadillac Escalade first drive review: American swagger

This is the Cadillac we’ve been waiting for. The Escalade has been transformed from merely ordinary into something truly outstanding. Sure, the brand’s recent crop of products has been OK, including the engaging CT4-V sedan and handsome XT6 crossover, but these vehicles still don’t quite hit the mark, let down by questionable powertrains and less-than-stellar interiors. But none of this applies to the new Escalade. No, it’s not tuned to handle like a sport sedan, but it still drives well for something so large. This imposing SUV is extremely luxurious, yet it isn’t the least but stuffy or old-fashioned. It offers segment-leading technology that avoids being intimidating or difficult to use. In short, Cadillac has at long last delivered a true luxury contender. No if, ands or buts, this is a flagship model to be proud of.

Caddy’s caveat-free machine has the goods to square off with rivals from Germany, Japan and America to compete on equal terms, though you may not realize it at first glance. The new Escalade’s exterior is certainly recognizable — and handsome — but overall, it’s fairly sedate and unexpectedly demure, even in supersized ESV form, the model seen here. Inside, though, it’s a completely different story.

It seems General Motors’ designers must’ve blown most of their budget creating this Cadillac’s inner sanctum. Showing how much thought the company has put into this vehicle, it’s available in something like nine different interior trim combinations, with unique colors, wood finishes and leather perforation patterns depending on the model. Platinum versions, which sit at the pinnacle of the Escalade range, feature buttery-soft semi-aniline cowhides in all three rows and loads of standard equipment. Quality is a high point, too. Poke at various trim pieces or bezels and nothing feels cheap or frail, everything is nicely finished and solidly built. About the only thing I don’t like is the silly electronic shifter, which looks like an old, brick-style cell phone. Also, it remains to be seen how premium lower-trim interiors will be, but if this top-shelf model is any indication, they should be pretty majestic, too.

The 2021 Escalade’s comportment is praiseworthy. Like its sister SUVs from Chevrolet and GMC, the addition of an independent rear suspension has, among other things, dramatically improved ride comfort in the second and third rows of seats. Adult passengers should have little to complain about, even if they’re sitting in steerage.

Chances are, the first thing you’ll notice about the 2021 Cadillac Escalade’s cockpit won’t be the stitching or door handles, it’s the screens. Sprawling across the dashboard are three individual OLED panels which measure more than 38 inches across. Subtly curved and beautifully integrated into the overall design rather than tacked-on like an afterthought, these seemingly overlapping displays provide perfect blacks, low glare and, according to Cadillac, the largest color range in the automotive business. Seriously, this unprecedented amount of screen real estate makes for super impressive standard equipment, and these displays are far from just eye candy. Like GM’s other recent infotainment systems, the one in this vehicle is superb, booting up quickly, responding immediately to inputs and never stuttering or lagging. Pinch-to-zoom on the navigation map, for instance, is as responsive as the smartphone in your pocket or purse. For added convenience, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as is a wireless device charging pocket on the center console.

Those OLED screens… are amazing!

Craig Cole/Roadshow

Further satiating today’s tech-obsessed motorists, the new Escalade offers plenty of high-end goodies. Augmented-reality navigation is perhaps the coolest, and it’s a feature that’s standard across the model range. When a route is active, the system overlays directional arrows on top of a video feed of where you’re driving, which is then piped to the center screen from a forward-facing camera. The closer you get to a turn, the larger and more animated the directional arrows get, making it nearly impossible to miss a navigational cue. This Cadillac can also be had with night vision. The latter isn’t particularly useful in most situations, but it can be handy for detecting animals or pedestrians in low-speed areas. Making this beast of an SUV just a little easier to park, the standard 360-degree camera system offers a dizzying array of different angles, which you can easily cycle through with just a few taps of your finger. The new Escalade can also be had with an awesome AKG sound system that makes even highly compressed music, like satellite radio, come alive around you, though it’d better be good considering it has no fewer than 36 speakers.

But what about Super Cruise, GM’s groundbreaking hands-free driving aid? Well, a newly enhanced version that can automatically change lanes will be offered on the Escalade before year’s end. Unfortunately, the model I’m testing here is not fitted with this headlining feature, though it does have regular adaptive cruise control, which is smoother and more responsive than some competing systems.

Matching its primo interior, this Cadillac is also supremely quiet and smooth, even when ripping down the highway. On rare occasions, you can get a tiny, tiny bit of body-on-frame jiggle, but that’s really only on horrifying road surfaces. This vehicle’s steering is secure and its body remains firmly planted when navigating corners at speed. The available lane-keeping system seems ineffective, seemingly doing little to keep the Escalade on the straight and narrow.

Augmented-reality navigation takes advantage of the Escalade’s forward-facing camera.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

Wind, tire and powertrain noise are all quieter than gossip behind your back. Matching that refinement, this vehicle’s ride quality is superb, too. Top-shelf Platinum models come with magnetic dampers and adaptive air suspension, the fanciest of three different setups offered on the Escalade. This combo delivers a ride that is both supple and controlled, far better than the Yukon Denali I tested recently, which, strangely enough, had the same suspension arrangement.

All of GM’s new, full-size SUVs are huge, but the extended-length models like the Chevy Suburban and this Escalade ESV are positively gargantuan. While turning corners, I’m constantly looking to make sure I don’t cut things too close or clip any wayward pedestrians. If you’re not careful, you could practically take out a whole elementary-school class and not even realize it. Of course, parking can be a chore, too, aggravated by the Cadillac’s tall hood and limited rearward visibility.

This luxury barge is hauled around by a smooth and snarly 6.2-liter small-block V8 that delivers 420 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque. It makes this Caddy plenty potent, although I still slightly prefer how the Lincoln Navigator’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 performs, slightly. The latter has a huge load of torque right in the middle of its operating range, whereas this naturally aspirated V8 needs to rev a bit to really get going. Rectifying this, before the year is out, a 3.0-liter diesel inline-six will be available in the Escalade, delivering 460 lb-ft of twist from an estimated 1,500 rpm.

Who doesn’t love a good V8 engine? A diesel will also be available in this Cadillac before the year is done.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

No matter the engine, a 10-speed automatic transmission is standard fare, and it’s very nicely calibrated. In testing, I have not experienced any shift harshness, annoying lags or other bad behavior, plus it’s responsive to drop gears when your right foot calls for a bit of extra speed. With four-wheel drive, the Escalade ESV stickers at 14 miles per gallon city, 19 highway and 16 mpg combined. In mixed driving, I’ve been averaging round 17.7, which isn’t that great, but at least it’s better than the EPA combined rating.

When it’s time to slow things down, the Escalade’s brake pedal is a bit rubbery, but it’s easy to modulate and firm enough that it feels like you have generous stopping power in reserve. That’s important for a vehicle practically as heavy as the crawler that used to move the Space Shuttle around. Indeed, a four-wheel-drive Escalade ESV is no featherweight, clocking in at one full shopping bag shy of 6,000 pounds. Even so, this vehicle is still quite capable. My review unit’s maximum tow rating figures to be a stout 7,900 pounds, and when it comes to cargo hauling, the ESV is hard to beat. There’s 42.9 cubic feet of room in the way-back, but fold both the second- and third-row seats down and that figure balloons to 126.6 cubes, far more than you get in a Mercedes-Benz GLS or BMW X7; it’s even a good bit more generous than what the extended-length Navigator L provides, which maxes out at 120.2 cubic feet.

It’s kind of like a big ol’ box on wheels.

Craig Cole/Roadshow

The 2021 Cadillac Escalade ESV’s base price is suitably rich, kicking off at about $80,500 delivered. The regular-length model is $3,000 cheaper. As you can guess, in Sport Platinum trim with four-wheel drive, this unit is far, far pricier. Including about six grand in options and $1,295 for destination fees, my tester rings up for $112,965. A princely sum, indeed.

But you know something? I’m not even mad about that. Thanks to its driving refinement, abundant yet easy-to-use tech and opulent interior, this price tag seems totally fair. The 2021 Escalade is the nicest, most thoughtfully crafted Cadillac to come along in years. It is truly a flagship-worthy vehicle